Thesps leashed for new ‘Straw Dogs’

Bosworth, Skarsgard join Marsden in film

Screen Gems has set Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard to star alongside James Marsden in “Straw Dogs,” a reimagining of the 1971 Sam Peckinpah film.

Rod Lurie wrote the script and will direct. Shooting is scheduled to begin in August.

Marsden plays a Hollywood screenwriter who relocates with his wife to her hometown in Mississippi. Bosworth plays the wife, who left the South for LA. to become an actress and returns home so her husband can finish his script in quiet. Skarsgard plays her high school boyfriend, an ex-football hero who sees the return of his former girlfriend as a way to reclaim glory.

Bosworth, most recently seen in “21,” next stars in “Warrior’s Way.” Skarsgard is playing the badass vampire Eric Northman in HBO’s “True Blood.” Before that, he starred in HBO’s “Generation Kill.”

Marc Frydman and Lurie are producing through their Battleplan Prods. banner. Gilbert Dumontet, who brought the project to Screen Gems, is executive producer.